The M-Paper App, which once offered Tanzanian newspapers in one platform has been rebranded as Rifaly, a new content platform that offers newspapers, magazines, audio stories, articles and books in one single app. The product was created by Smart Foundry, a subsidiary of Smart Africa Group which provides strategic alliances to create digital products that solve African challenges.
Rifaly provides unlimited access to African newspapers, books, magazines, articles, and stories. Users can download their favorite titles and access them offline, anytime, and anywhere.
Rifaly aims to be more than just a news aggregator and wants to be "the African content hub," as it diversifies content for its customers and provides a local partner for creators, publishers, and researchers.
In an interview, Edwin Bruno, SAG’s Chief Visionary Officer, said, "It has been quite a journey for 6 years now, and people already understand our journey. But we want to do more. We want the future of M-Paper (Rifaly) to be a platform for everyone to consume and to produce content above and beyond."
Johannes Lutainulwa, Smart Foundry’s Business Development Manager said that Rifaly’s aim is to be more than just a news aggregator but rather a content hub. “We want to bring together publishers, content creators, influencers, researchers and people that want to discover great African content”.
Rifaly apart from wanting users across the world with a smartphone or computer to access Africa’s content in one platfor, wants to empower content creators to monetize their hard work through an African platform.
With Rifaly, we're trying to diversify content for our customers, and be a local partner for creators, publishers, and researchers. This is very important because we, as Africans, should be able to tell our stories."
Rifaly premiered in the East African market, by launching the app in Kenya after attending the Africa Tech Summit (ATS) at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi which brought together key stakeholders in the tech ecosystem including tech corporates, mobile operators, fintechs, DeFi & crypto ventures, investors, leading start-ups and regulators.
The launch was attended by different Kenyan media houses like KBC Television, The Star Kenya, Business Daily Africa and The Citizen, tech influencers and content creators like Moses Kemibaro who also moderated the event, media researchers and was officiated by the High Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania in Kenya, Dr. John Stephen Simbachawene.
Rifaly is set to scale through the East African market with a plan to launch the product in Uganda and Rwanda and eventually push the product across the entire Africa.
Rifaly as an improved M-Paper, has customized the user experience with more search features and personalization options. Rifaly is now available for Android and iOS devices, ready for users wanting to experience Africa’s next content hub.
